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Weekend Sketches #15 - Princess Nova, The First Mage

10/2/2022

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A digital drawing of a tall and very femme woman seated with her legs crossed. She has long radiant orange and red hair, like the colour of flames, and freckles on her face. She is wearing a sheer shawl bordered by a gold trim, and on her arms are pitch black tattoos in the shape of flames. She daintily holds a longsword in her right hand while resting the index finger of her left against the side of her face in thought.
Earthshine is mainly a story about a duo, but there are a few important secondary characters who make their mark on the whole narrative. One who has a particularly big impact is Nova. She arguably turns the duo of Sol and Nyx into a trio, but only in the back half of the story.
A black and white sketch of Sol, Nyx, and Nova as a anthropomorphic dog, cat, and fox respectively. Nova is looking at Nyx with her front paws held together  in delight while Nyx looks back at her with hostility and the claws on her right paw barred and her tail puffed. Sol is stuck between the two of them and looks very uncomfortable, refusing to make eye contact and licking her nose in nervousness.
I would love to share more about her here but I run the risk of spoiling the whole first arc, and I’m learning that I should probably stop doing that. I do still want to name her ahead of time. I have been drawing a lot of art as I develop her character in preparation for her future debut, and I really want to post a bunch of it with some context to point back to haha. I think I just have a habit of introducing powerful and charismatic high femmes late in whatever narrative I’m writing. It’s like a sick joke I keep playing on myself.
Three black and white digital halfbody sketches of Nova. From left to right: Her looking to the left in profile, her looking directly at the viewer with her hand slightly covering her mouth, her again looking at the viewer with her chin resting on the back of her outstretched left hand and a small smile on her face.
Nova has gone through a few design changes before I settled on her current look. Honestly what has helped me flesh out Nova’s personality was sticking her in a sci-fi AU where she, Sol, and Nyx are travelling on a spaceship together doing deliveries and/or smuggling shit. 
A black and white digital sketch of Sol, Nyx, and Nova from left to right respectively. Sol is wearing a tank top with her coveralls half off and tied around her waist. Her hair is in a braid and she is smiling as she holds a potted plant. Nyx is dressed in a Lycra bodysuit with a hoodie over it and thick electrician's gloves on her hands. She has a tool belt around her waist and a pair of pliers gripped in her right fist and she is staring at the viewer in mild hostility. Nova is dressed in an antique captain's outfit with lace frock and the large captain's coat draped over her shoulders, but no hat. Her hair is in a ponytail and her right hand rests on her sword while her left hold's a tablet. She is looking at the viewers and smiling.
The nuts and bolts of canon-Nova is that she loves swords, is a mage just like Nyx, and is a big fan of patricide. The rest will come as I start churning out this story.
Thanks for stopping by!

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Weekend Sketches #11 - The Little Sketchbook That Could

11/20/2021

4 Comments

 
A photo of a black hard bound sketchbook with a faux leather cover resting on a dark brown wood desk. The sketchbook cover is plastered with five stickers: A small rainbow coloured bear in the top-left corner, blue pixel art roses in the top-right corner, a large kappa cabbage in the centre, a green Maneki-neko covered in fungi and mushrooms in the bottom left, and Jasper from Steven Universe in the bottom right. The bottom right corner of the sketchbook is taped up with tangerine themed washi tape. There is a Staedtler eraser resting next to the sketchbook on the top left corner of the photo.
A photo of the same sketchbook but taken from an angle where the viewer can see its spine more clearly.
A photo of the back cover of the same sketchbook, but oriented so that the spine is facing the bottom of the photo. Along the top edge of the sketchbook, written in gold paint marker, are words that say: “Water bottle spilled on it” and “Got caught in bike spokes” written out in all caps. Another corner of the sketchbook has been taped up with the same tangerine themed washi tape. On the left edge of the photo rests a Staedtler eraser and a black pilot fineliner.
Hello again to returning readers and a regular hello to new visitors! This week I felt like sharing some more analog sketches I had scanned out of one of my sketchbooks. I've been using this HJ Canada permanent black sketchbook for a lot of my offline sketching and I really like it. I liked it so much I bought 3 more of them when I saw they were on sale.

These sketchbooks are pretty cheap (imo) costing between $12-15 CAN for the 5x8 inch ones and have 284 blank pages and a stitched spine that allows the book to lay flat. The paper is acid free with one side being more rough and the other smooth. They're fun to sketch in with ballpoint pen and can take watercolour, to an extent (I have suffered some bleed through though haha).

Drawing in this sketchbook has been freeing for me because it is so cheap and innocuous looking, with some nice mid-grade paper, but it can take a beating. My current sketchbook has seen the horrors of having half my water bottle leak on it, and then later on got caught in my bike spokes while they were in motion. I don't feel afraid to draw in this sketchbook and can freely scrawl wonky sketches in it.
A scanned double page spread from a sketchbook featuring black and white drawings. On the left page starting from the top left and going clockwise: 

A bust drawing of Sol looking directly at the viewer, her face and shoulders are framed by the fur collar/hood of her coat. 

A bust drawing of  Nyx glancing to her right and looking a little murderous. Above Nyx’s head is written “Pilot finalizer with an under sketch.”

A profile bust drawing of Nyx facing right with her right hand raised in a fist as small sparks of lightning crackle from it.

A half body drawing of Sol from behind. Her hair is in a braid and flower petal are shedding from it. Two large wings sprout from her back and in her right hand she holds a longsword.

On the right page, starting from the top left and going clockwise: 

A half body drawing of Sol and Nyx kissing. Above Nyx’s head is written “Them” with a small drawing of a heart next to it.

A small half body drawing of Sol and Nyx. Sol is standing behind Nyx and has her arms wrapped protectively around her while Sol holds her longsword in both her hands. Nyx’s hands are at her side with lightning crackling from them.

A larger half body drawing of Sol and Nyx hugging. Nyx’s face is nestled in Sol’s chest and large wings are sprouting from Sol’s back.

A small full body art of Sol and Nyx embracing. Nyx has her arms wrapped around Sol’s waist while Sol is caressing Nyx’s face.
A scanned double page spread from a sketchbook featuring black and white drawings. On the top half of the left page is a full body drawing of Nyx in a right facing action pose. She is leaping in the air, her legs are tucked under her and her cloak flaps behind her like a cape. Both her hand are raised and lightning crackles erratically from them. On the bottom half of the page are two half body drawings of Nyx. The left drawing is of her looking directly at the viewer with an expression of doubt and remorse. Her right hand is raised to her chest. The left drawing is of Nyx looking more confident. She is only in her tunic and her right hand is raised to shoulder height as small sparks of lightning emit from it.

On top half of the right hand page are two half body drawings of Sol in just her embroidered tunic and her hair bound up in a short puffy ponytail. Above her head is written “The beautiful and gorgeous Sol” with a heart drawn next to it. On the bottom left half is a drawing of Sol and Nyx with their arms around each other and smiling. Sol is wearing a more modern leather jacket with a popped collar and Nyx is wearing a jacket with a fur trip along the collar. On the bottom right is another drawing of Sol in her tunic this time with her hair in a braid and flower petals trailing from it. She is smiling and blushing.
A scanned double page spread from a sketchbook featuring black and white drawings. On the left page is a full body drawing of Sol in profile facing right and staring at Nyx on the facing page. She is wearing a shiny halter top and lacks. Dragon wings and a unicorn sprout respectively from her shoulders and lower back. Her hair is braided and flower petals stream from it. On the bottom left of the page and behind her is a drawing of some budding cherry blossoms.

On the right page is a full body drawing of Nyx in profile facing right, but her head is bowed and her eyes are closed. Her arms are wrapped around her knees, which are brought up close to her chest. She is dressed in a long tunic that is cinched around the waist by a rope and a pair of leggings. A small braid dangles from her right temple and is adorned by a shiny bead. From her back sprout a pair of dark swallowtail butterfly wings and around her are drawings of swallowtail butterflies as well as a swallowtail butterfly cocoon and a trio of sparkles around her head.
These featured sketches were more of a test. Normally I would sketch right to ink using ballpoint or a black Pilot fine-liner. I enjoy sketching or drawing right to ink because it forces me not to overthink what I'm drawing. But recently I've been thinking about how I want to approach texture with my analog inking, so I've started doing a pencil under-sketch and then inking over top with the fine liner.

I still consider these sketches, because I kept my lines loose and rough in order to retain that good illusion of motion a sketch has. Making them too clean can take away from the energy in the under-sketch. From this I let myself have fun losing myself in the texture of the sketches, from Nyx's hair to Sol's wings.

I've been on a long path towards learning to enjoy analogue inking and having this intermediate stage which is still technically low stakes sketching, but also not, has been helping a bit. By doing this I have been discovering what kind of inking style I would like to adopt when using my dip pens, and honestly the style I like is one that has rough and loose line art with lots of texture. I want my inks to look like they are vibrating.

Hopefully once I do more with my dip pen I will scan and show those to y'all tuning in. Otherwise, thanks for stopping by, and have a nice weekend!
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Weekend Sketches #10 - PlushPets Playground

11/14/2021

0 Comments

 
A digital drawing of the Plushpets NPC Red (a cherry coloured hamster or mouse with a red cloak and a long green tail that looks like radish greens) hungrily looking at a sandwich in their hands. They are sitting on a picnic blanket in a flower filled field while behind them is a bright blue sky filled with fluffy clouds.
A digital drawing of Plushpets' NPC June (a pink dragon with blue horns and tail and white wings with a white scarf around his neck) watering some flower bushes using a garden hose. Behind him are a row of towering sunflowers.
Shrimpy (an anthropomorphic axolotl that has a shrimp tail and wears a red hood that makes it look like they have cat ears) playfully splashing through some puddles with rainclouds and flower bushes in the background.
Atlas (a blue and cream dragon with red bird feet and a red devil tail) holding a sword in their right hand and left arm raised in salute. The are standing in a rocky desert.
Winfred (a brown owl like creature that has a blue sprout growing out of their head and an extra pair of wings that are blue and covered with constellation pattern. They are reclined on a bunch of pillows and in the background is a view of the sea at sunset with fluffy clouds and stars in the sky.
Hello for another batch of weekend sketches!

This weekend I wanted to feature yet another Closed Species ARPG I got into over the pandemic called PlushPets, which is run by Basketworm. I really love the aesthetic of this group as well as how low stakes it feels compared to some of the other ARPGs I'm a part of, which is saying something since those groups are also pretty chill.

The game play in PlushPets is simplistic and breezy with the freedom of character design being similarly so. You can pretty much design your character to look however you want with only small specific caveats.
A development and reference sheet for Starfall, a plush pet that looks like an anthropomorphic purple goat with bright orange hooves and horns. She has a long dragon-like tail that has a shimmering orange start on its tip. On the left side of the sheet is her older design which depicted her with orange horns. The middle of the sheet details how her foot and paw pads have star motifs on them as well as that she has sharp teeth. The right side of the sheet shows her final design with the orange horns, horns, and star tail.
Starfall development and reference
After doing a few general art pieces to collect the in game currency, I built my first character who I named Starfall. I wish I had more to say beyond this but after creating my first character I fell off of playing the game. I would like to go back though. I definitely have been missing the easygoing nature of ARPGs.

I had even been thinking of building my own but... well I will talk on that more later.

Thanks for stopping by!
A digital drawing of Starfall, a purple goat plushpet who walks on two legs and has bring orange horns, hooves, and star on the end of her long dragon like tail, and a green tummy and ears. She is sneezing as she uses a feather duster to dust off a dresser in her little room, which is fit with a bed, a blue and green striped rugm and a few plants both on the windowsill or hanging from the ceiling in a planter.
Starfall's Spring Cleaning
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    Hello, my name is Gisele! I'm a cartoonist, editor, and writer living on the cold shoulder of Canada. You can support me and my work through Patreon.

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